As Ayumi comes down with a cold, it seems that things are finally getting serious.
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Charlotte – Episode 6 – Ayumi, A Disaster Waiting to Happen Without her Pizza Sauce?
Happy 26th Birthday
Today I turn 26 years old and it feels like I’m not getting any younger. Last year, besides winter being cold like the year before, I finally finished my master’s degree and completed studying the Advanced Japanese Textbook. While the job search was rough and at times, which made me felt discouraged at times, luckily found a job within 5 months after graduating in the Federal Government, although I had to relocate.
I started working on the 27th of July and so far, it has been a good experience so far. I will be learning more on various database tools, data warehouses, database administration and more on security (yes, I will be getting a Security+ certification, which is being paid by my employer at the end of this month). Not only that, the transition to living on my own has been going well so far as I finally got used to driving and doing chores own my own. It took some time adjusting to this new life, but I can admit that the future looks bright, providing I do not screw up. I highly doubt I would since I worked so hard to get here. Still, I have to admit that I was lucky.
With that, what does the future holds as I turn 26. Well, a lot of things. While I have to pay for living expenses and student loans while living within my means, I plan on going to at least one convention next year and hopefully start saving up on that soon once I strengthen out my budget. I will announce it in the near future which one I will be going to. In addition, I plan on studying for the N3 next year as I focus more on actual Japanese media and start writing some posts in Japanese only for practice.
To celebrate the occasion, it’s time to share my new place where I will be writing posts and yes, it is clean compared to my previous location. While my setup will change as I earn and save more money, I’m hoping to add another monitor to have a dual or even triple monitor setup (which includes the laptop display), a bigger network attached storage, a server of some sort and solid-state disk upgrades. My new setup consists of a Mid-2012 15” Core i7 2.6 GHz Macbook Pro, 24 inch Apple LED Cinema Display, an old 22 inch Samsung LCD monitor, Surface Pro 2, Mid-2010 2.4 GHz Core i5 Macbook Pro, Bose Speakers, Blue Snowball, 3 TB WD MyCloud NAS and 2 external hard drives.
With that, feel free to say Happy Birthday in the comments below. I will be going out for lunch and dinner alone for my birthday (my parents will be coming to visit this coming Friday), although it will not be anything fancy.
Also, this site’s domain turns 5 years old on the 11th… Yep, time flies.
Anime Weekly – Summer 2015 – Weeks 5 and 6 – Working!!! Episode 5 and 6 and Prisma Illya 2wei Herz Episode 3
After a long and hard decision, I decided to stop covering Illya 2wei Herz, at least separately. It will now be covered on a weekly basis to make things a bit easier for me since it’s becoming somewhat difficult to cover three shows at once, especially now that I am working full-time, eight hours a week.
Also, an open forum for this blog is now up. Now you can share any feedback, any suggestions for future editorial topics for my blog or ask me any questions there. While you have to register in order to make new threads, you can respond to existing threads without registering. Also, please do not comment or send any message through Facebook or Google Plus. I do not check those often, meaning that you most likely not get a response. It’s mostly there to syndicate content.
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The iDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls – Episode 17 – Jougasaki Sisters Soul Searching and Changing up an Image
It seems that the Jougasaki sisters have some soul-searching to do as Bain Capital’s Executive Director Mishiro goes on with her potentially destructive plans.
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The Lifelong Question: Will Anime Become Mainstream Outside of Japan?
Since the late 1990s, Anime has grown tremendously popular mostly due to globalization and the Internet becoming widespread. When I read Moonlitasteria’s take on the topic on whether or not Anime as a whole have become mainstream in the West, I wanted to share my own thoughts on it.
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The Idolm@ster Gravure For You (Main and Cinderella Girls) – Final Impressions
Unless you are a big Idolmaster fan, which I am, most people probably have not heard about Gravure For You. This is a bonus mini game that comes bundled with the Blu-ray packs that allows you to take pictures of idols wearing different outfits with different poses. There are nine different volumes for the main series and Cinderella Girls. With that, I will share my overall thoughts on these mini games, mainly focusing more on the Cinderella Girls Gravure For You, which introduces more features.
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Charlotte – Episode 5 – Camping Excursions to Find a Flying Man
Yep, it’s another episodic episode. This time, the student council goes camping to search for a teenaged boy who can fly.
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Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya 2wei Herz – Episode 2 – Beach Birthday Party Bash
The beach party is finally here and of course, Illya can’t catch a break from being teased.
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The iDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls – Episode 16 – Being Forced to Give Up an Image Never Works!
As expected, Executive Director Mishiro like a true vulture capitalist decides to break more dreams as she aims to emulate 765 Production’s success.
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Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka – Final Review
Initially, I did not plan to watch Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka (ダンジョンに出会いを求めるのは間違っているだろうか, lit. Is it Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?) until pictures of a main heroine, Hestia exploded on my Twitter timeline. Does it live up to the hype and the title? Not quite.
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Anime Biweekly – Summer 2015 – Week 3 and 4 – Working!!! Episodes 3 and 4 and Anime Blogger Cafe Grand Opening
After spending time arranging things, I’m finally settled down and ready to start my first day of work, which is today. Also, I want to share a special announcement as well.
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Charlotte – Episode 4 – A Predictable Baseball Game
It wouldn’t be a Key series without a baseball episode as the student council issues a challenge with a baseball player that can control the baseball’s direction after it got thrown.
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Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya 2wei Herz – Episode 1- Preparing for the Beach Party
At last, Illya that we know and love is finally back as the girls prepare for summer birthday beach party.
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The iDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls – Episode 15 – The Idol Dream Shattered, or is it?
From the start, I was right about Executive Director Mishiro taking the sleazy businesswoman route and screwing over the girls’ dreams for profits. Of course, the Producer is not going to let the girls’ dreams get broken because of her after the amount of effort he and the girls put into the project to make it successful.
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Thoughts about Anime Reviews done by Fans and Professional Critics
Since I am busy settling down, I may as well share my thoughts about something that I’m curious about: Who does Anime reviews better, the Anime Blogging community or ones done by professional reviewers like Anime News Network? I have wanted to share my thoughts about this after reading an infamous review from a certain famous Anime news website.
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Hibike! Euphonium – Final Review
Since I have played the piano and clarinet during my childhood up until my senior year of high school, Hibike! Euphonium instantly caught my eye when I saw it was a story of a high school concert band working with a new advisor in order to competing in nationals. Since it is Kyoto Animation, does it live up to expectations? Lets find out.
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Charlotte – Episode 3 – Yusa Finally Appears!
At last, the final main character of the group is finally revealed and she is an idol singer.
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The Idolm@ster Cinderella Girls – Episode 14 – The Mysterious Girl
The girls are finally back after a few months being on hiatus. Still, I have a bad feeling about the new executive director.
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Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A’s – Final and Movie Review
For a long time, I have been a fan of magical girl shows since I enjoy seeing young girls beat up villains with magical powers. Lyrical Nanoha is somewhat different compared to other magical girl shows like Cardcaptor Sakura since it caters the older male demographic while introducing some elements from mecha anime. In fact, some people described Nanoha’s magical girl outfit as a schoolgirl outfit and a Gundam. In other words, there is a lot of action packed battles. Nanoha A’s pretty much improves on the prequel by adding another heroine to the mix and anti-villains.
While it took awhile since the DVDs were out of print due to Geneon going out of business, I finally got the chance to finish it. In addition, I’ll be covering some thoughts on the movie.
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Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka? – Final Review
When it comes to slice of life shows, I really enjoy Iyashikei shows involving cute girls. To me, they are a nice way to make to relieve the stress from a hard day of work. Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka（ご注文はうさぎですか, lit: Is the order a rabbit?) is one of those shows that has cute girls, but working at a café.
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Reflecting on Iwata Satoru’s Accomplishments and Sharing my Experiences with Nintendo
You might have heard from social networking sites and news sites that the President and CEO of Nintendo, Iwata Satoru has passed away this Sunday from cancer. It’s saddening for the fact that he contributed a lot to gaming and managed to turn Nintendo around by innovating the consoles, which have enjoyed a lot of success, namely the Nintendo Wii, DS and the 3DS.
With that, I will share my thoughts on his accomplishments and contributions to Nintendo and the gaming industry. Of course, I will also share my experiences with Nintendo and how I got into video games.
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Charlotte – Episode 2 – Tomori’s Tragic Past
As Yu finally finds out what the student council does, Tomori shares her story to him.
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Working!!! (Third Season) – Episode 2 – Unwanted Meetings and Broken Glasses
It seems that there is one blond-haired man who works at their mother’s place that the Takanashi sisters don’t want to meet. I wonder why?
Note: The first and second episode of this show will be covered this and next week. Future episodes impressions will be done on a biweekly basis next week.
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Life Lessons – Relating with Shizuka’s Difficulties – Should you Chase a Passion?
Since its airing, Shirobako gave a good glimpse of the Anime Industry on how it works and the issues surrounding it with some that are interesting to discuss about. Now, I am going to take a look at the last aspect, should you chase your passion or pursue a career that pays well?
Sure, the other four girls (Aoi, Ema, Misa and Midori) had an easier time getting their foot in their door, but there is one girl who had an extremely difficult time and her name is Sakaki Shizuka. The difficulties she faced comes at no surprise considering that the voice acting industry is very competitive and there are only so many roles to go around at a given time. Was it worth it at the end to pursue such a career? Could she have done things differently?
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